Alan Stewart’s UK and Ireland family history news

Online petition for cheap BMD certificates

You can sign a petition online requesting the UK Government to make unofficial copies of English/Welsh birth, marriage and death certificates available at a lower price.

The petition, at the Government petition website, says: ‘Under current legislation, the GRO (General Register Office) can only “release this information by means of the issue of a paper certified copy certificate of the relevant entry, and payment of the relevant statutory fee for a certified copy.” We request that this House enacts legislation to allow the General Register Office of England and Wales the ability to issue “uncertified” research copies of birth, marriage and death certs – with a notice on the copies that they are uncertified, and have no legal authority – and that these may be obtained at a much lower cost than the current £9.25 per certificate (e.g. £2) when ordered online and the GRO Index Reference is provided, and that these may be issued in an electronic (email) format or on plain paper in the same way as in the Republic of Ireland; this would enable family historians to buy many certificates for their research at a lower cost. In the Republic of Ireland, you can ask for an uncertified copy from their GRO at Roscommon for €4.’